Well, I kind of failed this last week or so on posting frequently. Sorry about that. I’ve been under a bit of stress, not going into half of it but the other half I can explain.
Ewok, Kalypso’s little doeling and our bottle baby, died on Monday. I will present this as a warning to anyone raising goats. 1: make sure you have C/D-anti-toxin, and 2: make sure to give your babies their CD/T’s on time. She died from basically an imbalance of immunity in her gut. Since she was on a bottle the immunity that she’d gain from her mother’s milk was depleted and we ran out of goat milk to supplement her formula. She got into some bad feed or something and instead of like the other babies who just get a little sick, she became extremely bloated and stopped eating. I warn you, if you have a baby who suddenly (such as under 24 hours) stops having any interest in food, stands alone staring into space, bloats, (if it’s a vocal animal, stops talking), and starts stretching a lot then you need to act fast. By the time the kid starts stretching (Back legs stretched out, and putting its nose in the air) you are very likely almost out of time. We didn’t realize what was happening until Ewok lost the ability to stand, the kid may fling its head over its withers (shoulders) and just sit like that. When the kid starts convulsing you’re too late, I’m sorry if you found this post by looking up what symptoms your kid is currently having. That’s what we did and we were too late. If you see any symptoms like the early ones I described and you don’t know exactly what’s wrong please call your vet ASAP.
For what little positive there can be after that, Tiger had her kid this Wednesday. She had a long-legged boer cross doeling with a pale head. My sister has named the kid Envy, and at this point it seems she may be staying in our herd for quite a while.
All the other kids are doing wonderfully, even though they don’t care for this sudden cold snap we’ve fallen into again. I’m staying on top of my college load well, and actually succeeding with the assignments. We are waiting for Blue and Atlatl to kid now in the next couple months, and late this month will be the start of the nigerian’s kidding season. So we’re getting ready for more chaos.
I hope you have a good day and that God may bless your endeavors.
alexbks65 